tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-35115061.post3408057656280103332..comments2016-12-09T10:15:23.686-05:00Comments on Rex Parker Does the NYT Crossword Puzzle: Samuel Johnson's only play / SAT 10-13-12 / 1950s American Bandstand dance / Early idol of Warhol / Harp's home key / Six women at Penn programmed it / Roll in ze hay enthusiast / New model of 1999 / Concept in Hinduism Buddhism / King Gorm OldRex Parkerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16145707733877505087noreply@blogger.comBlogger62125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-35115061.post-53046587698116140972016-08-10T16:02:00.530-04:002016-08-10T16:02:00.530-04:00Nice shortcut! You can sing, you can sing, you can...Nice shortcut! You can sing, you can sing, you can sing... Sounds like Christmas) Here&#39;s the events where you can sing along with Paul itself, too <a href="https://ticketselect.co.uk/newmarket/mark-ronson" rel="nofollow">Mark Ronson</a>. Have fun!LindaDiazhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13964912617071286730noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-35115061.post-11466841902383901912012-11-18T06:24:48.272-05:002012-11-18T06:24:48.272-05:00Would have thought it relatively easy for a Saturd...Would have thought it relatively easy for a Saturday, except for getting Nedicked at the cross of 41A (obscure 17th century philosopher) and 23D (19th century founder of regional brewery, now defunct). The only Brewers I know of play for Milwaukee. I could see expecting people to know Adolph Coors, but Bernhard Stroh? I&#39;ve never even seen a can/bottle of Stroh&#39;s in real life. Lone Star was popular in my younger days, but until Googling Stroh just now I had no idea they owned it. Guess it&#39;s a regional thing.Anonyratnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-35115061.post-5377846979088641332012-11-18T02:32:56.129-05:002012-11-18T02:32:56.129-05:00I started doing this puzzle while watching a Georg...I started doing this puzzle while watching a George Harrison Bio on TV. Still took me ages to twig on to the Apple misdirect. Now I feel silly!Andrewnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-35115061.post-27526654009126081542012-11-17T20:43:32.360-05:002012-11-17T20:43:32.360-05:00Other than that, Mrs Lincoln, how was the play? Or...Other than that, Mrs Lincoln, how was the play? Or, other than the NE corner, how was today&#39;s puzzle? Just great!<br /><br />Seriously, ADREP, ODD and DINERO turned what had been an enjoyable and rather easy Sat. into a bit of a nightmare though I also pondered for the longest time about why Andy Warhol&#39;s early idol was Al Capone.<br /><br />Normally, PEONS like me would be tuning-in Hockey Night in Canada about this HOUR on a Sat. evening. Time to put NHL Commish Gary Bettman in the PENALTYBOX - maybe bring in that skater with many trophies, Bobby ORR, to solve the NHL lockout. Might have a few ACES up his sleeve.Waxy in Montrealhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04395751487137805245noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-35115061.post-27346602741630967402012-11-17T20:36:02.124-05:002012-11-17T20:36:02.124-05:00Sorry, so blasted drunk I can&#39;t spell my own n...Sorry, so blasted drunk I can&#39;t spell my own name!Pierre de Coubertinnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-35115061.post-88025267846558237802012-11-17T20:33:14.543-05:002012-11-17T20:33:14.543-05:00@DMGrandma - Balkan land, in the Olympics : CRO
...@DMGrandma - Balkan land, in the Olympics : CRO<br /><br /><br />The &quot;in the Olympics&quot; part of the clue indicates the use of CRO for Croatia.de Coubertainnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-35115061.post-15371319553388505372012-11-17T17:24:05.609-05:002012-11-17T17:24:05.609-05:00A fine, fine puzzle. No dreck anywhere; clever/de...A fine, fine puzzle. No dreck anywhere; clever/devilish cluing, highlighted by the Apple clues. Like Rex, I just popped in BUBBLE UP and that almost took care of the entire NW in one fell swoop. I KNEW that SEANCE was right and that put a C where I was trying to get Jobs/Wozniak in, and then it dawned what was up. After that, I dashed through everything except the NE where I KNEW that SERUMDONOR was right, until it wasn&#39;t, and spent half my time (way longer than 5:39) in that section. But solving what I consider a difficult puzzle is an accomplishment for me, plus I loved this one.rain forestnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-35115061.post-73956058466842390722012-11-17T17:14:48.652-05:002012-11-17T17:14:48.652-05:00UNCLE, I cry UNCLE. So many things I didn&#39;t k...UNCLE, I cry UNCLE. So many things I didn&#39;t know that even after coming here, I couldn&#39;t parse it at all. Did not know that apple was a label, never heard of PAPERBACKWRITER until I played Rex&#39;s clip, though it then sounded familiar. I did get the SE corner, but the rest totally eluded me. <br /><br />@DMGrandma - &#39;Young Frankenstein&#39; is hilarious. Teri Garr plays INGA, Marty Feldman is Igor. It&#39;s worth the rental.Gingernoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-35115061.post-16156696809595939232012-11-17T15:35:17.889-05:002012-11-17T15:35:17.889-05:00After an almost non-beginning, I got DITZ, and IN...After an almost non-beginning, I got DITZ, and INGA. (Never saw the movie, but had heard that Its Igor was a she.) From these two, I branched out and got a goodly part of the answers, but fell short of finishing. Having ARdEn for ARPEL and DOe for DOW didn&#39;t help. Also American Bandstand and Beatles&#39; records are not in my memory bank, tho I could name the two Beatles called for here. Rubric was a new word for me. Have heard it, but would have called it a rule, so wrong there. And, I still don&#39;t get CRO. If it means Croasia, shouldn&#39;t the clue indicated an abbreviation?<br /><br />@Waxy. Thanks for the explanation yesterday. I do remember the Singing Nun, but only translation!DMGrandmanoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-35115061.post-60757997298820588632012-11-17T12:48:50.323-05:002012-11-17T12:48:50.323-05:00I must be careful here lest I gush. Let&#39;s say ...I must be careful here lest I gush. Let&#39;s say solving this was an extremely gratifying experience. To begin, a la @loren muse smith, I stared for quite a while before making an entry. When I saw the clue for 47a, I was immediately taken back to those wonderful years when I couldn&#39;t wait to get home after school to turn on Bandstand. &quot;I wonder if it&#39;s THESTROLL,&quot; I thought, but of course it was too early to fill that in.<br /><br />No, I began in the SE, with another bit of nostalgia--though far less pleasant--ZIT, which yielded TANZANIA, and I was in. The HIFI/OFAGE cross didn&#39;t come easy; I was stuck on some kind of TV for the 50&#39;s furniture, and the misdirect of &quot;not in the minority&quot; took a while to aha! out. But when HIFI gave me SLINGS I could resist no longer; just off the OL I put in THESTROLL (&quot;Stro-o-o-o-olin&#39;&quot;).<br /><br />Surprise factoid of the day: six women at Penn really programmed ENIAC? Wow. You go, girls!<br /><br />Forgetting STROH for the moment and not knowing the _flat harp key, I had _APO_E for the Warhol idol and thought CAPONE? Could it be? I mean, Andy was decidedly off-center (OFFSET?) but I don&#39;t know. Then after recalling STROH (duh!) I realized there&#39;s only one letter difference between CAPOnE and CAPOTE. Weird.<br /><br />All around, it took some work and lots of little aha!&#39;s to get the solution. More pleasant nostalgia ensued with the 15&#39;s, and with the surprisingly straightforward clued STARSHIP. Barry, this puzzle was ACES!<br /><br />OFL, why so surprised that BRYAN Adams should get a Grammy? If he heard you, he&#39;d say that &quot;Cuts Like a Knife!&quot;Spacecraftnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-35115061.post-47939475058291128762012-10-18T00:48:54.217-04:002012-10-18T00:48:54.217-04:00Why does Rex insist on calling Fri, Sat puzzles &q...Why does Rex insist on calling Fri, Sat puzzles &quot;theme less&quot;? This one obviously has a Beatles theme.paulfahnhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07653446438620596991noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-35115061.post-17556858518003434892012-10-14T11:06:40.971-04:002012-10-14T11:06:40.971-04:00I must be missing something. The Monday NYT puzzle...I must be missing something. The Monday NYT puzzle, called &quot;super easy&quot; here, was just that for me. Fifteen squares across and down, and I filled in the empty ones just about as fast as I can write -- in nineteen minutes. <br /><br />Rex, though, knocked off this typical Saturday toughie in five minutes and thirty-nine seconds. I couldn&#39;t mark an X in each square in that little time. <br /><br />Is there some way to fill in the blanks that I don&#39;t know about? Does anyone else out there marvel at such superhuman speed?Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-35115061.post-57342544385975681902012-10-13T23:10:55.483-04:002012-10-13T23:10:55.483-04:00This seemed to me of typical Saturday difficulty. ...This seemed to me of typical Saturday difficulty. It took my a lot longer than Rex, but in the end I got it all. Went a lot fast after I figured out lennonmccartney/paperbac writer.michaelnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-35115061.post-15341924360708591322012-10-13T23:06:28.980-04:002012-10-13T23:06:28.980-04:00This was probably in the easy-medium range for me....This was probably in the easy-medium range for me. I had nothing on my first pass through the acrosses. First word in was SEANCE, then IRENE and TRYST to finally find purchase. From there it was steady progress. I was a little surprised to learn that BRYAN Adams won a Grammy.<br /><br />Go Tigers.Zhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16181544219511150272noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-35115061.post-75887786854801044262012-10-13T20:10:47.694-04:002012-10-13T20:10:47.694-04:00Weekend puzzle partner arrived early to give me a ...Weekend puzzle partner arrived early to give me a hand with this one, and we knocked it out in about an hour flat - that about equals Rex&#39;s 5:39 with our handicap figured in. I had to explain to her that with Barry Silk&#39;s puzzles the answers are easy, it&#39;s the clues that are hard and that was mostly true of this one. <br /><br />Dirigonzohttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03903353503511480168noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-35115061.post-56571599093390352832012-10-13T19:27:20.879-04:002012-10-13T19:27:20.879-04:00So Rex gives a thumbs up and then hardly anyone sa...So Rex gives a thumbs up and then hardly anyone says anything negative.<br /><br />Well, i hated this puzzle. Bob Sneadnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-35115061.post-45758168742211912522012-10-13T18:25:04.672-04:002012-10-13T18:25:04.672-04:00This week&#39;s relative difficulty ratings. See m...This week&#39;s relative difficulty ratings. See my 8/1/2009 post for an explanation. In a nutshell, the higher the ratio, the higher this week&#39;s median solve time is relative to the average for the corresponding day of the week.<br /><br />All solvers (this week&#39;s median solve time, average for day of week, ratio, percentile, rating)<br /><br />Mon 6:08, 6:47, 0.90, 14%, Easy<br />Tue 8:57, 8:57, 1.00, 58%, Medium<br />Wed 8:15, 11:49, 0.70, 1%, Easy (lowest median solve time of 169 Wednesdays)<br />Thu 15:08, 18:50, 0.80, 18%, Easy<br />Fri 25:46, 24:29, 1.05, 60%, Medium-Challenging<br />Sat 24:55, 29:12, 0.85, 20%, Easy<br /><br />Top 100 solvers<br /><br />Mon 3:39, 3:41, 0.99, 49%, Medium<br />Tue 5:13, 4:40, 1.12, 84%, Challenging<br />Wed 4:41, 5:56, 0.79, 7%, Easy<br />Thu 7:53, 9:22, 0.84, 24%, Easy-Medium<br />Fri 12:34, 12:11, 1.03, 60%, Medium<br />Sat 14:40, 16:33, 0.89, 29%, Easy-Mediumsanfranman59http://www.blogger.com/profile/15118732156312301425noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-35115061.post-45294775703294586112012-10-13T17:44:59.915-04:002012-10-13T17:44:59.915-04:00@Deb
Well wishes to you!@Deb<br /><br />Well wishes to you!JFenoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-35115061.post-26571759060955383502012-10-13T16:33:57.714-04:002012-10-13T16:33:57.714-04:00Ugh. I was on track for my best-ever Saturday time...Ugh. I was on track for my best-ever Saturday time, and then I got jammed up in the NE — I spent as much time on that corner as I did the entire rest of the puzzle. I had SERUM DONOR to mess me up for a while, and even when I realized that was wrong it just took me ages to get each of those entries.<br /><br />Good puzzle though, so no complaints from me; just frustration at my inexplicable seize-up at the end.Davishttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15336260911834780345noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-35115061.post-83106711900586260612012-10-13T16:14:45.287-04:002012-10-13T16:14:45.287-04:00So glad that nowhere was an ONO to be seen- to br...So glad that nowhere was an ONO to be seen- to break up Lennon and McCartney!Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-35115061.post-79152229983475295162012-10-13T15:24:35.607-04:002012-10-13T15:24:35.607-04:00Took me a lo-o-o-ng time to finish, and I enjoyed ...Took me a lo-o-o-ng time to finish, and I enjoyed every moment. Loved THE STROLL, which I learned from those SMOOTH teens on American Bandstand but never played on a HIFI - just a portable record player that played only 45&#39;s. So many pleasures in this puzzle, in both clues and answers - a real Saturday treat.<br /><br />@Rex - On tought spots - the last letter I filled in was the C in UTICA/ACES, after trying to think of every possible meaning of hand (sailor, body part, applause...) and Univ. of Texas at...? and running the alphabet three times. <br /><br />@loren - Robert HOOKE is a fascinating figure. I got to know him through fiction - Neal Stephenson&#39;s <i>Quicksilver</i> (which I recommend).<br />Carolahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15971759975067250908noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-35115061.post-80319574023439094002012-10-13T14:51:45.817-04:002012-10-13T14:51:45.817-04:00@Deb ... adding my well wishes to you,too! Scary s...@Deb ... adding my well wishes to you,too! Scary stuff, but I had one of those once and it turned out to be nothing. Hopefully it&#39;ll be the same for you.johohttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12708487230515532492noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-35115061.post-56629905476215923542012-10-13T14:34:45.120-04:002012-10-13T14:34:45.120-04:00Grade A cluing. Barry, you are a wonder.
The puz...Grade A cluing. Barry, you are a wonder.<br /><br />The puzzle fell faster than my normal Saturday, but I had to Google thrice. I can&#39;t wait to just get rid of that crutch!Lewishttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09709142959535977331noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-35115061.post-45637309326674185792012-10-13T14:07:46.931-04:002012-10-13T14:07:46.931-04:00Challenging for me, until I got the apple/Beatles ...Challenging for me, until I got the apple/Beatles crossed 15s. <br /><br />It is plain that the absence of stacked 15s makes a puzzle much more difficult. The step up from yesterday was pretty dramatic.<br /><br />Any time I can complete a Saturday with no errors I can say that life is good.<br /><br />The apple mis-direct was splendid; liked Average Name -- wanted DOE; wanted CAPONE as Warhol idol.<br /><br />So, many, but not too many, write-overs. Great puzzle, Barry, perfect for a Saturday and thank you!John Vhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10557037910799243636noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-35115061.post-21380061055568279842012-10-13T13:58:10.946-04:002012-10-13T13:58:10.946-04:00Busy morning so finished over lunch. Always enjoy ...Busy morning so finished over lunch. Always enjoy Mr. Silk and his cluing. Much fun.quilter1http://www.blogger.com/profile/09569747169212018177noreply@blogger.com